Little League all-star tournaments kick off
by Bob Brownne/ TP staff
Jul 07, 2009 | 2201 views | 0 0 comments | 16 16 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Patterson catcher Thomas Turner (left) waits for the throw as Tracy American’s Matt Rodriguez scores during the teams’ Major Division game at Jefferson School on Tuesday afternoon. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
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Little League all-star tournament play continued this week in three divisions, including the District 67 Major Division tournament at Jefferson School for the 11- and 12-year-old players.

District 67 also concluded its Junior Division tournament over the weekend as the Weston Ranch All-Stars defeated the Tracy National All-Stars for the championship.

Junior

The Tracy National All-Stars and Weston Ranch All-Stars traded big rallies during Saturday’s District 67 championship at Salida Elementary School.

Weston Ranch finally took over with a seven-run fifth inning and two more in the sixth for a 16-12 win and will represent District 67 in the Section 3 tournament.

Weston Ranch took advantage of three base hits, two walks and two batters hit by pitches to score five in the first inning. Tracy got on the scoreboard in the second when Ismael Gutierrez walked, rounded the bases on hits from Oscar Moreno and Jordan Kirby, and scored on a passed ball.

Tracy took an 8-5 lead in the third on hits from Tyler Cox, Jonah Wesely, Eddie Lopez, Erich Hutchinson, Moreno, Kirby and Kyle Pajarillo.

Hutchinson scored again in the fourth when he reached on an error, Gutierrez doubled and Pajarillo singled.

Weston Ranch came back with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, but Tracy held on to a 12-7 lead as it scored three with hits from Wesely, Gutierrez and Moreno.

Weston Ranch took the lead as it drew five walks in the bottom of the fifth and got two base hits, including a bases-clearing double from Marcus Vega to make it 14-12. Weston Ranch drew four more walks in the sixth and got a base hit to score two more.

More tournaments

Three Little League District 67 tournaments began Saturday in Tracy, Salida and Manteca. Games continue through the weekend, with championships early next week. Results reported from over the weekend include:

9- and 10-year-olds

Tracy Little League has four teams in the 9-10 tournament at Elliott School in Manteca.

The Tracy National A and Tracy American A all-stars won in the first two rounds and will play each other at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the third round. The winner of that game will be in Saturday’s semifinals. The championship game will begin at 10 a.m. Monday.

The Tracy National A 9-10 All-Stars beat the Tracy National B team Saturday and went on to beat the Northgate Little League squad Sunday, 17-0.

In Sunday’s game, Tracy National A pitcher Bryce Keeney went four innings, struck out six Northgate batters, walked four and gave up no hits. Tracy National A also collected 13 hits.

Garrett Cichella and Brent Barr both got base hits as Tracy scored two runs in the second. In the third inning, Michael Mendiola blasted a shot over the right-center fence to drive in three runs. Joshua Boehm also singled in the fourth as Tracy went up 7-0.

In the fourth inning, Tracy National A scored 10 more to put the game out of reach. Cichella, Mendiola, Boehm and Zachary Cortright singled to get the rally started. Keeney followed with a ground-rule double and two RBIs, and Cichella hit his second single of the inning.

Tracy National A’s defensive effort included a game-ending double play, as second baseman Skyler Oki tossed the ball to shortstop Nathan George, who threw to Jake Fordyce at first.

On Sunday, Tracy American A took a 13-0 win over Patterson. Ricky Staas pitched all four innings and allowed no hits for the Patterson team. Batters for Tracy included Ronaldo Tijero with three base hits, including a triple, Fred Gerstenberger with three singles and Conner Johnson with two doubles.

Tracy American A won its first-round game 14-4 against Weston Ranch on Saturday. Top hitters in that contest for Tracy were Tijero and Johnson, who each had four base hits, including one double each. Damien Hutchins singled and doubled, and Cody Bolton had two singles.

Tracy American B lost its first-round game Saturday and logged a win Sunday.

In Sunday’s 13-0 win over Patterson, Tracy American B’s bats went to work. Ryan Rivera had three base hits, including two doubles and six RBIs. J.J. Jones had two doubles and two RBIs, and pitchers Marco Gigliotti, Joey Mellick and Jake Johnson allowed a combined one hit, with Johnson striking out the side in the fourth inning to end the game.

In Saturday’s 13-2 loss to Salida, Tracy American B was held to three hits, including an RBI single from Matthew Nunes and knocks from Ryan Rivera and Mikey Romero.

Further results from games involving the Tracy National B and Mountain House Little League teams were not available.

10- and 11 year-olds

Both Tracy National and Tracy American won in the first two rounds to make it to Wednesday’s semifinal game at 6 p.m. at Salida Park.

The Tracy National All-Stars took a 12-2 win Sunday over Salida’s all-stars. The win was highlighted by Ryan King’s bases-loaded home run over the left-center field fence in the second inning after Gabe Culver and Nick Yanke singled and Taylor Mellick was hit by a pitch.

Tracy sealed its win with a six-run rally in the fifth inning, which included base hits from Tomas Landeros, Brian Kronenberg, Alex Martinez, Mellick, Nick Burnham, Antonio Gigliotti and Jarred Finney. Pitchers for Tracy National included King, Finney and Mellick.

Tracy American earned its spot in the semifinals with a 9-3 win Sunday over Spreckels Park. Starting pitcher Robbie Ramirez struck out eight batters in four innings for Tracy American, and reliever Nick Medina pitched two innings and struck out three batters.

Dylan Von Hartman led Tracy American at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

In the first round Saturday, Tracy National took a 10-3 win over Manteca. Jarred Finney had the big hits, including a triple to drive in King in the first inning and a grand slam in the third inning. Kronenberg followed with a solo homer over the left-field fence. Tracy kept the rally going with base hits from Landeros, Peter Van Katwyk, Burnham and Mellick singled to knock in two more.

Winning pitcher Van Katwyk went five innings and struck out seven, and Finney finished the game with two strikeouts in one inning.

Everybody on the Tracy American team had at least one base hit in Saturday’s 22-1 win over Northgate. Tracy rallied for seven runs in the first inning, seven in the second and eight in the fourth.

Von Hartman was Tracy’s starting pitcher and struck out seven batters in three innings. He also led at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double and five runs batted-in. Noah Denoyer and Matt Case also had home runs, and Ramirez had four base hits.

11-12 Majors

Tracy has two teams and Mountain House has one team in the tournament at Jefferson School, where the first two rounds were played Saturday through Tuesday.

Tracy American lost 3-2 to Lathrop on Sunday but came back for a 13-2 win over Patterson on Tuesday.

Tracy American started Tuesday’s game with four runs in the first inning, two scored on Steven Schreppel’s home run. Matt Rodriguez and Kyle Hewitt also got base hits in the first inning. Tracy followed that up with an eight-run second inning in which Schreppel doubled and Zack Lowe, Rodriguez and Justin Donato got base hits. Adrian Reboca got a base hit in the third inning and scored on Hewitt’s sacrifice fly.

Gabe Chavez pitched for Tracy American, threw 59 pitches in four innings and struck out seven batters. He gave up one earned run on one hit, a triple in the fourth to Patterson’s Aaron Gonzalez, who stole home for Patterson’s second run.

Tracy National won its first game Sunday, 19-2, over Salida and plays again today against Northgate. Details of that game were not available as of press time.

Mountain House played Manteca on Sunday. Results of that game were also not available.
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